King Aldrin Seraphin
Biography Birth Born in the spring of 1002, Aldrin Seraphin was the much-hoped for first child of the then King Artur and his wife, Queen Isolde. Previous to Aldrin's birth, Isolde had struggled to conceive at all and also given birth to a stillborn daughter. His arrival brought much joy to the Kingdom and his parents, so much so that his mother defied convention in breast feeding him herself as opposed to handing him over to a wet nurse. His birth was also a relief to his mother's status as, prior to his birth, she had failed to deliver her husband a son. She had one stillbirth before Aldrin, a boy, and the fact that she was unable to conceive prior and then only to give failure to Sundaril meant that those working against Isolde and the Severallis thought they had found an Achilles' heel to exploit. With the birth of Aldrin, those plots against Isolde were silenced and, if anything, the people's love for her multiplied exponentially. Early Years Aldrin was shortly followed by another son, Prince Aidan Seraphin- someone whom he initially felt was a threat for his mothers love and often fought with. Many tantrums marked the heir's earliest years, but by the winter of 1006, his jealousy had abated- and luckily so, for Isolde gave birth to her second but this time healthily delivered daughter. Again, Aldrin was initially threatened by this arrival- however, it took no time at all for him to grow attached and fond of the small Princess. Given every honour due to the heir to the throne, Aldrin's early years were for the most part happy. However, though betrothed at age five to the newborn Princess Alys Howard, war sprung up between the two countries for the third time in twenty years, causing the betrothal to be broken. Though it was presumed her ability to conceive had diminished, the Kingdom rejoiced once more when, in the same years, the Queen was pregnant again. Tragically, however, the birth of the Seraphin twins- Aoife and Anrai- was to be Isolde's last act upon the Earth, for she passed away almost in the same breath that her daughter was born. Her death deeply marked her oldest son, changing his outlook on love, his position, and most notably the twins. Despite loving them in some way, they were ever to be blamed for the death of Queen Isodle, and thus from the start relationships were fraught. Life as King Aldrin's father, King Artur, passed away in Aldrin's twenty third year of life. Thus, the Crown Prince became King Aldrin Seraphin, ruler of all Sundaril. For five years he remained unmarried, until at last he turned his sights to the prospect of matrimony. The Princess Alys was one obvious choice, the brides were offered to him from various other places, including the Romani Empire, Kosakova, Anhuinox and Farengalia. It was arranged that the Princess Alys should visit him in the autumn to further continue their courtship and see if a marriage would be made, but due to various circumstances on the Princess's part, she arrived all a-whirl to Sundaril, earlier than planned. From the moment of their meeting, there was attraction between Alys and Aldrin- and though Alys faced competition from the beautiful Princess Rasia of Kosakova, she managed nevertheless to steal his heart. Controversy arose when the two were married in a whirlwind ceremony on a lustful, spur-of-the-moment thought of His Majesty. With great haste, a priest was sent for as the future queen stood alone in a hallway as her husband-to-be ran to fetch him. When the priest arrived, there was no ceremony or grandeur- merely two people wedding for love in the night- or at least, what Aldrin Seraphin termed love. Because of the nature of the wedding ceremony, many people in Sundaril simply refused to believe it took place. The lack of a witness, of official documents, and nothing but the new queen and king's word did nothing to remedy these rumors. In fact, the whole wedding was never even revealed until a royal hunt was scheduled with the king, his wife, courtier's and the Crown Prince of Liston. It was there that their marriage was revealed to much surprise and (for some) indignation. However, in order to reconcile with the people's opinions as well as tradition itself, a formal and grand affair was planned to make all good and proper. In September, 1031, the 'Liston Lass', was crowned Queen Consort of Sundaril and given the titles Her Royal Majesty, Queen Alys Howard Seraphin. More scandal cropped up when, clearly a fertile sort, Her Majesty gave birth less than nine months later to Princess Isabel. Though this was largely seen as a failure on her part and it was thought that the king's interest would start to wane after Alys's failure. It was hardly helpful that Lady Marion Moranin, a lady of Sundaril's court and a woman rumored to be a witch, had been a lover to the king not two months prior to the queen's labor. The birth of Princess Isabel, while a true showing of the queen's fertility, proved to be a disappointment though the people loved their newly born princess immediately. Running parallel with all Aldrin had to deal within courting, marrying and bedding his wife was an increasingly strong threat from 'the Teeth' of Sundaril, a mountain region inhabited by savage 'animal men', though in truth these people merely dressed in animal skins, and were as human as the King himself. Keelut Wintermane, a powerful warrior and ruler within the Teeth, was determined to damage and undermine the rule of the Seraphin King. Fortunately for the latter, however, the potential uprising was crushed by Sundaril's armies and the threat of war within Sundaril was diminished by the total eradication of the Teeth's people. The land has now been given to the crown prince of Sundaril, Aidan Seraphin, for his personal use due to loyalty and ferocity in battle. The prince was also given the title Earl of the Teeth as well as High Constable of Sundaril. This marked great favor towards Aidan as well as a remarkable statement by Aldrin, in which he said that Aidan might chose his own wife when he so pleased. Not only did this show a remarkable amount of trust in his younger brother, but a shift in power where the king unofficially proclaimed Aidan his own household now. This also, according to contemporary sources, indicated that the king might have meant to remove Aidan from the line of succession in favor of Isabel, prompting others to see that the king did not see a reason for Aidan to be prince any longer, but simply an Earl to remain in some power after Aldrin himself had died. This idea is further supported by the fact that in the summer of 1031, the king was known to be planning a radical Act of Succession which would change the landscape of Sundaril forever. The idea of the Act of Succession intends to be given to the Council of Sundaril in the fall of 1031.